Filmed at Bavaria Film studios outside of Munich Germany, The Great Escape is the true retelling of the greatest prisoner escape of WWII from Stalag Luft III. Filmed on a forested 400 acre lot to the almost exact specs as the original camp, The Great Escape pulls together the most talented actors of the time to make this a very exciting, sometimes funny, and very tense story.

With the use of German, British, and US actors, John Sturges, using the Paul Brickhill book by the same name, began filming without a script. Using the exact means of escape that the real men did Sturges made composite characters to represent the real men and stayed as true to the real escape as he possibly could while filming. He also hired Wally Floody, the real tunnel king, who was portrayed by Charles Bronson as the technical adviser.

The Great Escape follows the men of Stalag Luft III who find ways to tunnel under the camp and to the surrounding pine forest of Zagan, Poland. Big X, played by Richard Attenborough, plans to move 200 prisoners out of the camp and into the surrounding country side to disrupt the German war machine. Thrilling, funny, and suspense filled it is a great movie from start to finish. It is truly and epic war movie and should be part of every DVD library.

Stars
Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, and David McCallum.

Attention to Detail
Donald Pleasence noted that the camp built for the movie was the exact replica of Stalag Luft I which he was a resident of during the war.

Uniforms were made to the exact specifications as the originals. Vehicles were period vehicles scrounged up from around the area, the studio, or collectors.

Sturges incorporated details from the book, personal accounts from the veterans on set including accounts from the actors, set dressers, and other people associated with the movie for realism.

Famous Lines
Von Luger: Are all American officers so ill-mannered?
Hilts: Yeah, about 99 percent.
Von Luger: Then perhaps while you are with us you will have a chance to learn some. Ten days isolation, Hilts.
Hilts: CAPTAIN Hilts.
Von Luger: Twenty days.
Hilts: Right. Oh, uh, you'll still be here when I get out?
Von Luger: [visibly annoyed] Cooler!

Also Watch
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of Britain

I Give This....

One of the first war movies I had seen as a young boy To Hell and Back was the story of Texan Audie Murphy who at the age of 17 and standing only 5' 5" tall joined the US Army during WWII. Murphy was sent to N. Africa where he joined the 3rd Infantry Division and trained for the invasion of Sicily.

The movie is an abridged version of his book of the same title and outlines his major campaigns and battles. Based on his book Murphy had to "Hollywood" some parts of the movie due to the fact that some of his operations were still considered secret or confidential.

Starting from when he was a boy on his Texas farm to the day he got his Congressional Medal of Honor, To Hell and Back is a WWII action roller coaster from the 50's in the tradition of Battleground, Go for Broke, and other biographical movies of its type To Hell and back is a good war movie to share with friends and family.

Audie Murphy, 19, Life Magazine

Attention to Detail
Audie Murphy worked his magic in getting tanks, infantry equipment, uniforms, and actual footage from the Army war footage archives of the Italian campaign, and Fort Lewis Washington for its European looks.

Interesting feature was in fact the M4A3 Sherman tanks used in the movie. Made in 1954-55 the A3 Shermans was all but fazed out our turned into A3E8s. These particular Shermans were probably National Guard equipment. This reasoning comes from the fact that Audie was a National Guard Officer until his death in 71.

Stars
Audie Murphy, Marshall Thompson, Jack Kelly, Charles Drake, Bruce Cowling, David Janssen

Famous lines
Johnson - Where does he think he's going?
Brandon - I'm supposed to take care of him?
Murphy pulls grenades from his gear and crawls forward
Brandon - Hey, you think you got a private war?
Murphy - No...I think there's enough to go around

Also watch...
Tobruk
They Were Expendable

I give this….

Go For Broke!! (1951)

Written and directed by Battleground's Robert Pirosh, Go For Broke is the "based on" account of the US Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team and its fight in Army training camps in the US south and the fight against Germany in Italy and France in 1943 and 1944. Many of the Japanese actors in the movie are actual veterans of the 442nd and played a fictional character in the movie. Van Johnson plays Lt. Grayson, a Texan, who is not fond of his new found command and still has serious issues with Japanese Americans being soldiers. Eventually Grayson warms up to and emmerses himself in the Nisei.


Lane Nakano - Sam (1925 - 2005)



Van Johnson & Henry Nakamura

Attention to Detail
One of the greatest details in this movie is that they took guys that fought in Italy and France, asked them to portray other men in the 442nd and set them lose on a backlot battlefield.

One of the other details I was looking at was the field gear. To me it looked like these guys still had all their gear and uniforms from when they served.


Stars
Van Johnson, Pat Morita, Lane Nakano, Don Haggerty, Dan Riss, Henry Nakamura


Famous Line
Lt. Michael Grayson: I'll be seeing you.
Tommy: Aloha, partner.



Also Watch
Hell is for Heroes
To Hell and Back



I give this...

Battleground! (1949)

Arguably one of the best war movies to come out of Hollywood. It is the story of the 101st Airborne's 327th Glider Infantry Regiment fighting in Belgium during the German push at the Battle of the Bulge. Item Co. is in France waiting on their ride to Paris when Kinney enters and tells them they are on their way to the front. They are unknowingly sent to Bastogne or as Abner Spudler calls it Bas-stog-nee. Many people think this is William Wellman's war story but the fact is it belongs to writer Robert Pirosh and is the partial history of the 320th Infantry Regiment of the 35th Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division units he supported when he went into Bastogne.



Ian MacDonald - The Colonel


Leon Ames (L) - Chaplain & Brett King (R) - Lt. Teiss

Attention to Detail
One thing about this movie is that it was filmed in Hollywood and at Fort Lewis Washington. Many of the character actors were trained by the paratroopers from the 101st and other army units. An interesting note is that the M4A3E8 Shermans used in the ending sequence were late model heavy Shermans with the upgraded armor package.

In the early 40's star Van Johnson was in a car accident that almost took his life. One of his surgeories required a steel plate be placed in his forehead. In almost all of his movies the scar is covered by makeup BUT in making harsher more violent films his scar is not covered and in several sequences in Battleground his scar is very prominent.

Stars
Van Johnson, James Whitmore, Marshall Thompson, John Hodiak, Richard Jaeckel, Herbert Anderson, Ricardo Montalban, and Denise Darcel

Famous Line
Holley: Yeah, they really shoulda sent out a bigger patrol.
PFC. Johnny Rodriguez: Do you want to goof off?
Holley: Who said anything about goofing off?
PFC. Johnny Rodriguez: Nobody. I'm just saying, the best way is to tell them you heard voices talking in German.
PFC. Donald Jarvess: Let's say we heard voices talking in Japanese and let G-2 figure that out.

Also Watch
The Longest Day
Band of Brothers - Rated R for extreme war violence

I give this movie....

PVT Holley! Fall In!!

The incredible Van Johnson passed away today. At 92, he was living in an assisted living center in Nyack, NY. At 24 he starred in his first movie, Too Many Girls, as a choir boy and at 76 he starred in Clowning Around his last film. His noted film appearences are 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, Battleground, Go For Broke, The Caine Mutiny, and Brigadoon and his noted TV appearences in Quincy, The Love Boat, and McMillian and Wife to name a few.

Turner Classic Movies

Johnson's air of sympathetic concern, still boyish energy and sometimes larger-than-life acting style marked him as a welcome reminder of old Hollywood on TV, too, from his guest villain spot as the Minstrel on the campy 60s "Batman" to his Emmy-nominated supporting role on "Rich Man, Poor Man" (1976). Other TV work included "Superdome" (1978), "Glitter" (1984) and "Clowning Around" (1992), and he also made regular appearances as a most genial interview subject on his lengthy showbiz career and the Hollywood of yore.

----------------------------------------------
At 45 many of the actors I watch in movies that I like have long since parted the earth. Men like Bogey, Widmark, Albert, Fonda, Wayne, Murphy, Thompson and others instilled in me the pride of a country. Many of these men are one of the reasons why I joined the military though the men in my family are the main reason.


But, still, there was something about Van Johnson that makes me sit and watch any of his movies. I'm not sure if its the Pvt. Holly, Jeff Douglas, or The Minstrel in him but there is something that just drags me to the TV to watch him.

Funny, Van is one of a handful of Rhode Islanders I DON'T know ;)

He will be missed....God Speed Van!